Garden offices at Chelsea Flower Show 2007

Garden offices have had a good showing at recent Chelsea Flower Shows. This year again there are a couple of Show Gardens with homeworking shed buildings, including Diarmuid Gavin's Westland Garden (pictured) sponsored by Westland Horticulture. Gavin has included garden offices in his work before, the fine man, and this new garden contains a pavilion clad in western red cedar with two glass studio spaces, each with a deck overlooking a pond, for a homeworking couple. According to the RHS site: "This is an environment where the couple can express themselves artistically and intellectually, while being surrounded by a green haven in a woodland area." Recycled timber boards have been used for the floors in the buildings and rainwater is collected from the roof to water and top-up the pond.

Also look out for The Marshalls Sustainability Garden designed by Scenic Blue to appeal to those with strong eco interests (e.g. solar-panelled sculptures). It also includes a cedar studio building built under an earth rubble mound - this is a green roof with a difference since it has foxgloves and mixed wildflowers rather than just sedum.